Restored 1958 John Deere 45 Combine Heads to the Fields

Collector restores combine for its 50th birthday

Herb Bohrer with the 1958 John Deere 45 combine he restored. “I grew up in North Dakota and did some combining when I was in high school,” he says. “The Massey 27 was the first combine I ran, then a Super 27. Once when I was home on leave, I got to run a John Deere 95.”

The 45 didn’t look the best when Herb got hold of it, but it started readily enough.

George Jackson, 92, atop the restored John Deere 45 combine he used for more than 25 years. “He operated under George’s Rule of 10,” Herb explains. “Start at 10 a.m., stop at 10 p.m., do 10 acres. He’d spend about a month at it.”